In what may have been a pivotal day in the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump doubled down on his tough stance on illegal immigration in Phoenix, Arizona late Wednesday, just hours after presenting a more presidential persona in a meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.
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Mexico’s president rebuked Donald Trump as a threat to his country just hours after painting a positive picture of talks the two held on Wednesday to try to defuse tensions over the USA presidential hopeful’s anti-Mexican campaign rhetoric.
Reaction to the gathering between Pena Nieto and Trump seems to indicate the Mexican president wasn’t too focused on how it would play at home.
Trump held a surprise meeting with President Enrique Peña Nieto Wednesday, and the GOP nominee said the visit was a success.
During their joint press appearance Wednesday, Peña Nieto made no mention of a wall, although he said countries should work together to make the border safer and more efficient and strive to reduce the illegal trafficking of drugs, money, weapons and people.
“He permitted Trump to appear presidential for nothing”, said Alejandro Hope, a Mexico City-based political and security consultant. “Mexico will be paying for the wall”.
“What is a fact is that in the face of candidate Trump’s postures and positions, which clearly represent a threat to the future of Mexico, it was necessary to talk”, Pena Nieto said hours after his annual state-of-the-nation report was delivered to congress. But later that night, he made a decision to stick with the far-right positions that were key to his success in the Republican primaries and could help him cement the support of white men – one demographic where he beats Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
“It’s our right as a sovereign nation to chose immigrants that we think are likeliest to thrive, likeliest to flourish and to love us”, Trump said.
One by one, they insisted that if Mr Trump had been in office, their loved ones would still be alive. Aside from building the wall that incorporated the latest technology, he would deport illegal immigrants without engaging them in legal proceedings, suspend issuance of United States visas to countries without adequate screening, and initiate against the 23 countries that refuse to accept their own citizens after the United States deports them.
“Trump just failed his first foreign test. Diplomacy isn’t as easy as it looks”, Hillary Clinton tweeted. “Those days are over”.
Calling for stricter enforcement of existing immigration law and “zero tolerance for criminal aliens”, Mr Trump promised to triple the number of immigration officers responsible for deportation.
But he remained unclear about exactly what would become of the 11 million people now living in the shadows. Virginia Congressman Morgan Griffith said he agrees with Trump’s policies on immigration control and building a wall.
Mr Trump said his opponent’s immigration strategy was to “let everybody in and destroy the country”.
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Televisa news anchor Carlos Loret de Mola marveled that Trump would dare go to Mexico and reiterate his intention to build the wall.
